HALF a mile out to sea behind Royal Aberdeen’s dramatic sloping first green, huge ships bunch together as they patiently wait for a free spot to dock in the Granite City’s bustling harbour.

One vast liquid waiting room.

Meanwhile, on terra firma another group of behemoths are forming an orderly queue of their own as the biggest names in golf gather to put this gorgeous stretch of coastline in the spotlight at this week’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open.

With 23 of the world’s top 60 players and 10 major winners including home favourite Paul Lawrie and the legendary Sir Nick Faldo - the procession of talent on show makes for the best field ever assembled in the tournament’s history.

An honour which is most likely thanks to a couple of factors. Firstly, the Mickelson effect.

Lefty’s dazzling fortnight last year, when the American finally mastered the art of links golf to win back-to-back Scottish Open and Open Championship titles, has made the rest sit up and take notice.

It can surely be no coincidence that in the three years since the Scottish Open was moved from its long-term base at Loch Lomond to a links venue that every Open Champion has competed in the event the week before lifting the Claret Jug.

First Darren Clarke, then Els and most recently Mickelson are living proof of the huge advantage to be gained from getting competitive links golf under their belt to tune-up for the big one the following week.

The other factor behind the return of guys like Poulter, Westwood, Rose and McIlroy is the course itself.

While Castle Stuart, the venue for the previous three years, is about as beautiful a place you could hope to play this great game it cannot be claimed as a traditional links venue. It was built as a resort course, designed to give pleasure to its paying punters with generous flat and wide fairways that the pros generally found too easy.

Royal Aberdeen, however, is an entirely different kettle of fish.

It’s the epitome of classic old links golf - the game in its purest form.

The front nine, meandering its way through towering sand dunes, is about as good a stretch of holes you will ever see. Don’t take my word for it, get here and see it for yourself because it’s a treat not to be missed.

But beneath its rugged beauty lies a razor sharp set of teeth.

The rough is up and if the wind is the same come Thursday morning expect the scores to rise dramatically too.

Severely undulating fairways, demanding tee shots often hitting across fairways rather than simply blasting it straight out in front of you will put accuracy and club selection at an absolute premium.

This is a course you play with your brain with brawn very much secondary to strategy. Expect to see drivers staying in the bag with a cautious four iron off the tee to avoid running out of fairway so often the sensible play.

Quite how an American debutant like the PGA Tour’s rising star Jimmy Walker will fare should be very interesting to see. In these parts the high and long target golf favoured in the states is rendered useless in anything more than a light breeze.

Even more so when they reach the turn and find themselves hitting into the jaws of the prevailing wind that has wrecked many a battle-weary club member’s scorecard.

But whatever Mother Nature throws at us this week, one thing is for sure that the days ahead are going to be compulsive viewing with the staggering array of world class talent about to be unleashed.

And the roars they prompt from an excited Aberdeen crowd might just be carried on the wind all the way out to those ships bobbing around on that North Sea waiting room.